What happened in Shanghai
From the double at the end of the GP in 2025 to the double retirement without even starting 12 months later: after a year everything seems to have changed for the McLaren. The Woking team, which has won 3 of the last four titles up for grabs in F1 – the two Constructors’ titles and the 2025 Drivers’ World Championship with Lando Norris – started 2026 far from the Mercedes-Ferrari duo which at the moment seems to have something more than the competition.
In Shanghai the papaya team found electronic problems on Lando Norris’ McLaren well before lining up the car on the grid. Everything seemed to be going well on Oscar Piastri’s single-seater, but then the Australian’s MCL40 was also taken away from the starting grid without taking part in the GP.
“On Lando Norris’ car we encountered problems with the electrical part of the power unit – explained the McLaren team principal Andrea Stella at the press conference – we couldn’t communicate with this component. We tried to solve the problem by replacing as many components as possible without necessarily having to change that specific component, because it would have taken too much time and would not have allowed us to get to the start of the race in time. We reprogrammed the ECU, but there was no way to fix the problem and Lando’s car was simply not ready to leave the garage. On Oscar’s car, however, the car arrived on the grid without any problems. Once on the grid, however, the car never restarted, similar to what happened to Lando. In reality, however, it was easier to diagnose the problem on Oscar’s car. It seems that it is the same component of the power unit on the electrical side, but of a different nature.”
“Obviously this is an area of the car that is not under McLaren’s controltherefore we completely rely on what is reported by Mercedes HPP (High Powertrain Performance) and we fully trust their report – added Stella – According to their report, the two problems are currently of a different nature. The nature of the problem was understood, but not the cause. A physical inspection will be necessary, because from the data available to us or from a cursory external inspection, there is nothing that indicates a specific and more detailed root cause than, say, the general statement that the problem is in a certain area.”
